gotiation, inftead of being carried on with fincerity, fhould be broken off, or fhould prove ineffectual.

The injuries done to his Majefty by the court of London not having ceafed, and no intention appearing in that court to repair them, the King has refolved, and orders his ambaffadors to declare, "That the honour of his crown, the protection which he owes his fubjects, and his own perfonal dignity, will no longer permit him to fuffer a continuàtion of thefe infults, or to neglect any longer the reparation of thofe which have been already received; and that with this view, notwithstanding the pacific difpofitions of his Majefty, and even the particular inclination which he always had, and always profeffed, to cultivate the friendship of his Britannic Majefty, he finds himself under the difagreeable neceffity of making use of all the means that the Almighty has given him, to do himfelf that justice which he has in vain folici

ted."

Relying on the justice of his caufe, his Majefty hopes that he will not be refponfible to either God or man for the confequences of this refolution; and that foreign nations will form a proper idea of it, by comparing it with the treatment which they themselves have experienced at the hands of the British ministry.

The Marquis D'ALMODOVAR. London, June 16. 1779.” Next day, June 17. a copy of the preceding refeript was prefented to the Lords by Lord Weymouth, and to the Commons by Lord North; and along with it the meffage before mentioned.-We in fert that to the Commons, viz.

"GEORGE R.

THE ambaffador of the King of Spain having delivered a paper to Lord Viscount Weymouth, and fignified, that he has received orders from his court immediately to withdraw from this country, his Majefty has judged it neceffary to direct a copy of that paper to be laid before the Houfe of Commons, as a matter of the higheft importance to his crown and people; and his Majefty acquaints them at the fame time, that he has found himself obliged, in confequence of this hoftile declaration, to recall his ambassador from Madrid.

His Majefty declares, in the moft fo. lemn manner, that his defire to preferve and to cultivate peace and friendly interfourfe with the court of Spain, has been

uniform and fincere; and that his conduct towards that power has been guided by no other motives or principles than thofe of good faith, honour, and juftice: And his Majefty fees with the greater furprife the pretences on which this declaration is grounded, as fome of the grievances enumerated in that paper have never come to the knowledge of his Majefty, either by reprefentation on the part of the Catholic King, or by intelligence from any other quarter; and in all those cafes where applications have been received, the matter of complaint has been treated with the utmoft attention, and put into a courfe of inquiry and redress.

His Majefty has the firmeft confidence, that his faithful Commons will, with that zeal and public fpirit which he has fo often experienced, fupport his Majefty in his refolution to exert all the power and all the refources of the nation, to refift and repel any hoftile attempts of the court of Spain; and that, by the bleffing of God, on the rectitude of his intentions, and the equity of his cause, his Majefty will be able to withstand, and to defeat, the unjust and dangerous enterprifes of his enemies, against the honour of his crown, and the commerce, the rights, and the common interests, of all his fubjects. G. R."

Lord North moved, that a loyal addrefs fhould be prefented to the King, to affure his Majefty, that his faithful Commons would ftand by him with their lives and fortunes.

Mr Burke expreffed his aftonishment, that the Noble Lord in the blue riband had not been able to give the House earlier information of the approaching rupture with Spain, which had not only been forefeen, but foretold in the House, by him and his Honourable friends long fince; yet the minifter had perfifted in deceiving parliament and the public, by giving the itrongeft affurance in the committee of fupply, when the vote of credit was moved, that we were in the fame fituation with Spain as at the beginning of the feffion. That power he had faid ftill continued armaments fufficient to excite jealoufy, and the fame profeffions of neutrality, without any caufe of complaint of the breach of it, Either the minifter must be miferably defective in point of intelligence, or he muft have deceived parliament. As he was proceeding in this ftrain, the Speak, er ftopped him, by afking, if he had any

thing to move, otherwife, as there was no motion before the chair, he must remind the Hon. Gentleman that such converfation was irregular.

Lord George Cavendish fpoke next, to the point of order, and gave it as his opinion, that the Hon. member was perfectly in order, and ought not to have been interrupted. It was the rule of parliament, that a member, when he was upon his legs, fhould be heard to the end of his fpeech, which might be concluded, and frequently was, by a motion; almost every day furnished in ftances of it.

Col. Barré exculpated the Speaker from any intention to give perfonal offence to his Hon. friend, or to mislead the Houfe; but he was certain he was perfectly within the rules and ufage of parliament: and he reminded the Speaker, that it was formerly the custom, for the members, one after another, to speak their minds upon any fubject, and then for the Speaker to collect the opinions of the Houfe, and to frame the motion that was to be the ground of the refolution or vote of the Houfe; fo that there could be no implied neceffity for any motion to intitle a member to deliver his fentiments to the Houfe. With respect to the bufinefs before them, he was really aftonished to fee the minifter come into the Houfe with a fmile upon his face, and pass by him to his feat with the utmoft unconcern, and rather with the appearance of having come from fome scene of mirth and jollity, than as the meffenger of fuch woeful tidings to the British Houfe of Commons; efpecially as the Noble Lord had brought the nation into its prefent embarraffed fituation, by ob. ftinately perfifting, against all advice and every remonftrance, in purfuing the ruinous American war; the event of which all fenfible men must have feen would be what has happened.

Sir George Saville took notice of the fmile upon the minifter's countenance upon coming into the House, which he thought a levity, or an apathy, ill-fuited to the meffage he had in his pocket: but he hoped to-morrow he would be ferious, confiftent, and collected, and inform the House what refources he had, what means of carrying on fuch an extenfive, formidable war, as now threatened this country.

Mr Burke, refuming his difcourfe, hinted, that if he had known it was ne

ceffary to declare a motion at first setting out, he could have mentioned one, which was, an impeachment of the Noble Lord, who had been fo juftly reprehended for his unconcern at the calami ties he had brought upon his country. He afked that fide of the House, where was now the triumph of that majority which, but laft night, had voted against the motion for not proroguing the parliament, which now they faw was founded on better information than their own, and on a more competent knowledge of the fituation of the affairs of the nation than his Majefty's minifters could pretend to? By this time he had formed a motion in his mind, which he thought highly proper for the occafion, and it was this:

"That the Houfe fhould inftantly refolve itself into a committee of the whole Houfe to confider of the state of the nation, that they might know what means were left to combat the united force of the House of Bourbon and of America; but, principally, whether the wretched minifters, who had involved their country in it, and had shewn themselves fo incapable, were to continue to have the management of public affairs."

The motion was feconded by Mr David Hartley. But Lord John Cavendish, who came into the houfe at this time in a great hurry, and took his feat, iaterpofed, and begged his Hon. friend to withdraw that, and every other motion, till the manifefto should come under confideration. He then appealed to the Houfe, if he was not a moderate man, and not of a fanguinary difpofition: yet upon this occafion, and he declared he had heard nothing of the manifefto till a few minutes before, he would declare, in the fame breath, that he was willing to devote his fortune and his life to the fervice of his country against its perfidious enemies, the united Houfe of 2 Bourbon, and to facrifice the fame for tune and life in bringing to justice the men who had brought us into our prefent melancholy fituation. His refent ment he could not fupprefs: it was national; it was not confined; it went further than the perfon of any one mi nifter; it was firm, and fhould be du rable.

Mr Turner declared, he would not vote a fingle fhilling more for the impending war, or any other service, while the prefent miniftry remained in offic

and

the mode of expreffion in his motion, and instead of moving his Majefty "to difmifs his minifters," to word it in the fofter ftyle of praying, "that the prefent fyftem of government be changed."

Ld Abingdon, however, refused to withdraw his motion, or alter a tittle in the form of it. A divifion confequently taking place upon it, there appeared -against it 77, for it 23.

The Duke of Richmond then rofe, and faid, he had hoped to have heard from fome one minifter, what the nature of the negotiation had been, to which the refcript alluded, declaring, that as it was there ftated, he was perfectly at a lofs to imagine, whether it originated with the British cabinet, or with the court of Madrid. He alfo expected that the Houfe would have had fatisfaction refpecting the allegations of grievances ftated in the refcript. His Grace remarked, that he was fhocked to fee so many proxies produced that the queftions then under confideration demanded the moft ferious attention of the House; that the fafety of the kingdom was at ftake, and the public danger would not be rendered more or lefs alarming, or fet at a greater diftance, by the number of votes of abfent Lords, who knew nothing of the queftion, to decide which their names were fo fhamefully proftituted. He added, that the fafety of the kingdom depended on the exertion and the wifdom of thofe few who remained to guard it, and provide for its protection; that too many of fuch as were able to affift in fo falutary a purpose, were not only out of town, but out of the kingdom. If our army, lying idle and unemployed at New York, were now at home, the public danger would not be fo great as it was. Be it however what it might, he exhorted every one of their Lordships to act with a decent firmness, and neither to defpond themselves, nor to encourage others to defpond.

An interefting debate enfued, which continued till near nine in the evening.

Ld Weymouth, in reply to the Duke of Richmond, faid, that it was impoffible for his Majefty's minifters to ftate to the House of a sudden* the several matters alluded to in the paper delivered by

[In December 1761, when the Spanish minifter delivered the note alluded to by Ld Stormont in his fpeech this day [321], the then miniftry published the British anfwer [23. 666.] along with the Spanish note.]

the Spanish ambassador; neither did he fee the neceffity of ftating them at all, fince the difpute was now brought to iffue, and the fentence paffed. At prefent he saw no reason of acting otherwife than to addrefs his Majefty, in terms of chearfulness, and to fet about the very interefting and important bufinefs of preparing to repel the hoftilities of the enemies of G. Britain.

Ld Shelburne reviewed the whole queftion. His Lordship first stated, that the prefent refcript was new in its tendency; that it did not accufe either the king, the nation, or the parliament, of improper conduct refpecting Spain; but it accused the British cabinet, the miniftry of this country. Their Lordships, therefore, as a House of Parliament, had a right to expect an exact ftatement of what the grievances alluded to in the manifefto were, and a specific juftification of the King's fervants, for their conduct refpecting them. His Lordship took an extenfive latitude of argument, and carried the House with him into the hiftory of his country, fhewing, efpecially, what had been the conduct, and what had been the language, of Q. Elifabeth, when the kingdom was in danger of invafion; particularly when we were threatened with the Spanish arma da. He fupported the Duke of Richmond's idea of a junction of all parties, but profcribed Ld North, Ld Geo. Germaine, and Ld Sandwich. He attacked the firft of thefe Lords in the most severe, but at the fame time in the most perfonal manner; defcribing him as a being unworthy of the name of a man, as a thing drest up and fed for the purpofe of betraying the rights of individuals, the honour of the country, and the glory of the crown. He animadverted with great feverity on an eminent Law Lord, and faid, that a cunning counsellor, a Mr Morgan, had told their Lordships at their bar, that he understood the Noble and Learned Lord's hints; that when the Noble and Learned Lord said little, he meant a great deal. The declaration he verily believed, for it was to thofe hints that the nation owed its prefent danger. If fome of the firft and ableft lawyers in Weftminster-hall were to be credited, the Noble and Learned Lord. had hinted away the common law of the kingdom; and if among men bred to a learned profeffion, and capable of feeing the difference between fophiftry and

truth,